Trent University Hires Inaugural Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Dr. Rona Jualla van Oudenhoven has been appointed Trent University’s inaugural equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) effective this September, announced on Thursday.

Photo courtesy of Trent University.

“Trent’s strength lies in our diversity, highlighting broad perspectives and diverse ways of learning, knowing, and discovery. Dr. Jualla van Oudenhoven’s appointment builds on our commitment to human rights, equity, diversity and inclusion and will amplify our ongoing initiatives in EDI,” said Stephanie Williams, Trent HR vice president. “The committee was impressed with Rona’s depth of knowledge and experience in implementing equity, diversity, and inclusion strategic plans across campuses. She demonstrated a compelling ability and commitment to creating and supporting an inclusive and safe campus.”

Dr. Jualla van Oudenhoven will play a central role in all areas of human rights, equity, and accessibility across Trent’s campuses in Peterborough and Durham according to a press release. She will provide strategic leadership in developing and implementing EDI policies, programs, practices and a university-wide EDI action plan.

She will also aid in the recommendations of the University’s Anti-Racism Task Force and the Joint Report with the Trent University Faculty Association on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity forward in collaboration with departments across campus. 

“EDI can be very complex work, and at the same time, we can keep the underlying philosophy of equity for all quite simple, as a basic rights entitlement for everyone,” said Dr. Jualla van Oudenhoven. “In fact, the measure of any institution, person, or entity is visible in how we treat our most marginalized groups. This is EDI advocacy.”  

Dr. Jualla van Oudenhoven is currently the chief diversity officer at Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen, Netherlands. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of West Indies with undergraduate specializations in psychology, management, and higher education.

Her doctoral research focused on violence studies and rights-based approaches to addressing inequities, forming a natural backdrop for her EDI work. She continued her professional development achieving certifications in project management, coaching, human rights theory and practice and restorative justice and is a Canadian-certified inclusion practitioner.

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Trent University Receives $3.5 Million Gift to Double Number of Community-Based Research Projects

Trent University received a $3.5-million gift from an anonymous donor that will double the number of community-based research projects, announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Photo courtesy of Trent University.

The research programs create a lasting impact that allows more students to gain valuable hands-on experience and create meaningful change in the Peterborough region according to a press release.

The anonymous donor gave $1.2 million earlier this year following the launch of the Campaign for Momentous Change but increased it $3.5 million after recognizing the needs and benefits of the Trent Community Research Centre (TCRC).

The money provides ongoing funding for training students and employers, enhancing hands-on learning opportunities, providing funds for primary research, and covering travel and other expenses for students to complete research projects in the Peterborough area as stated in the press release.

“Trent University is a catalyst for community well-being and success through its thought leadership, research, collaborative endeavours, and community-building initiatives including community-based research,” said Julie Davis, Trent vice-president of external relations and development. “We thank the supporter for this transformational gift that strengthens our ability for many years for academia and communities to come together to address complex and urgent societal challenges.”

“Whether it’s groundbreaking research with the Five Counties Children’s Centre or the Brain Injury Association of Peterborough Region, Trent students are using community-based research opportunities to gain valuable experiential learning in areas close to their hearts and creating momentous change in our communities,” said Kevin Whitmore, Trent director of Careerspace.

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PVNC Seeking Candidates for City of Peterborough Trustee Board Position

The Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board are seeking candidates for a Catholic Trustee position and fill a Board vacancy and represent separate school ratepayers for the City of Peterborough.

File Photo.

The appointed trustee will serve until the end of the current term of office in November 2026.

 Applicants to fill the vacant seat must be:

• A Canadian citizen, at least 18 years of age; and residing within the jurisdiction of the Board. 

• A baptized and practicing Roman Catholic, who is shown as an English-language Roman Catholic school supporter on the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) form.

• Not an employee of the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board, or any other district school board, or school authority in Ontario.

Candidates do not have to reside within the City of Peterborough to be considered.

Catholic Trustee applicants are invited to submit an application package including the following:

• A cover letter

• A curriculum vitae outlining personal and professional experience

Applications must be submitted to the Director’s Office via email to trusteeapplications@pvnccdsb.on.ca by 4 p.m. on Aug. 31.

Selected candidates will be contacted and asked to make a brief presentation to Trustees at a special in-camera Board meeting in September, indicating their interest in serving as a Trustee for our Board and their dedication to Catholic education according to the application.

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Hometown PTBO: SPSS Student-Athlete Valedictorian Grace Murphy About Her Sports Tenure with SPSS and Going to Queen's University

This week on Hometown PTBO, Pete Dalliday talks with SPSS student Grace Murphy about her athletic tenure with the school, her affiliation with the Electric City Football Club and her goals as she sets off to Queen's University in Kingston.

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Trent University's 17th Annual President’s Excalibur Golf Tournament Fundraises For Student-Athlete Scholarship

The 17th Trent University President’s Excalibur Golf Tournament saw 76 golfers hit the links at the Peterborough Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

Trent University kinesiology graduate Grace Sanderson making a putt with onlookers cheering her on to help kick off the 17th Annual President’s Excalibur Golf Tournament. Last year’s event took place at the Quarry Golf Club. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The fundraising event is for Trent Excalibur Green and White Scholarship Fund. It is awarded to exceptional first-year student-athletes at Trent University who have an 80 per cent (or above) average The event’s annual goal is to raise at least $50,000 annually. Over $575,000 has been raised through this tournament for the fund.

The day included 18 holes of golf, a barbecue lunch, a golf gift, on-course refreshments, a silent auction and dinner with an awards presentation.

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Fleming College Students' Anti-Stigma School Project Earns Partnership With Alzheimer Society To Be Used Throughout Peterborough

Fleming College’s Graphic Design – Visual Communication (GDV) students have partnered in an anti-stigma campaign developed from a class project with the Alzheimer Society of Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland and Haliburton in an announcement on Tuesday.

GDV Fleming Students Adam Keizer (left) Mark Dizon (middle) and James Levesque (right) gave presentations to the media and affiliated organizations of their campaigns. Dizon is an international student from the Phillipines and came to Peterborough for school two years ago. Photo by Samantha Bianco.

The ‘Missing Piece,’ campaign was created and designed by Fleming students including international student Mark Dizon. His project was declared the winner and the lead project from six different groups. It will be used throughout the Peterborough region to draw attention to the stigma and bias that can affect those with dementia.

“I just feel honoured and very happy that it’s my first time to be chosen for this,” said Dizon. “It was a contest and I was chosen. I won and I feel like a champion.”

Each year, fifth-semester GDV students were assigned to aid an organization with a design project. Organizations are often from the non-profit sector and the project gives students a chance to experience working with a real-world client from concept to completion.

The Alzheimer Society are using the designs and concepts in a campaign that will stretch across the Peterborough region.

“We were tremendously impressed with the quality of the work produced by the Fleming College students. Dementia in our region is rising exponentially, and unfortunately stigmatizing language is still commonly used around the disease,” said Jen Johnstone, Alzheimer Society executive director. “We are thrilled that our collaboration with Fleming will enable us to launch our anti-stigma campaign Be the Missing Piece in August of this year.”  

“This is a fantastic example of the hands-on, experiential learning that takes place at Fleming College and comes to life in our community,” said Maureen Adamson, Fleming president. “This project has led to a partnership that benefits not only our students but the people that we love and support. We are honoured to be a part of this collaboration.” 

Dizon has been hired by the Alzheimer Society of Peterborough, Northumberland, etc. in an internship capacity to help oversee the campaign. He is in his fourth week of six of an internship with the organization at the publication of this article.

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SPSS Student Amelia Williams Takes Her Next Hockey Step By Committing To Sault College

The hockey life continues for 17-year-old St. Peter’s Secondary School (SPSS) student Amelia Williams has committed to the Sault College Cougars in Sault Ste. Marie to play hockey in September in a contract signing on Tuesday morning.

(from left to right) Mike WIlliams, father; Rocco Williams, brother; Amelia Williams, Clara Williams, sister and Rebecca WIlliams, mother at the signing held at the SPSS gym. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The defenceman says Sault College was one of the few schools that offered a hockey program in the province and she jumped at the opportunity when she found out she was recruited.

“If I wanted to continue to play hockey, this was my only opportunity to,” explained Williams.

She is graduating from SPSS this summer and will move to Sault Ste. Marie around August. Williams says she’s excited but is surreal that she’ll be going through a major lifestyle change over the summer.

“It's crazy that I'm graduating and moving away,” she explained. “I wasn't expecting to go away but this opportunity just came and I'm really excited.”

Williams has been playing hockey since she was in grade two. She’s won a Kawartha AAA High School Girls hockey championship and COSSA championship with SPSS in 2019.

She’s also been a member of the Peterborough Ice Kats AA U18 team for the last two seasons. She finished this season with two goals and seven assists in 52 games as the team’s top-scoring defenseman.

Williams will take electrical engineering at Sault College and either wants to play professional hockey or become an electrician after graduation from post-secondary education.

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Sisters-In-Law Found New Private School Evergreen Education Beginning this September

Teachers and sister-in-laws Kayley Dunn and Sarah Dunn are opening a new private school Evergreen Education located at the Edmison Heights Baptist Church basement and are accepting enrollments for September.

Teachers Kayley Dunn (left) and Sarah Dunn (right) prepping for the next school year as they will open their private school Evergreen Education this September. Both of their husbands are brothers. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The school is accepting children from kindergarten to grade three and looking to get around 22 students total with classes of no more than 15 students, enrolled for the upcoming school year.

Kayley and Sarah focus on self-paced and ‘mastery-based’ learning rather than every child learning at the same rate.

“Teachers are teaching students at their level and so if you have a big class of 26, the idea is that that teacher is meeting all those 26 students' needs because they're not all necessarily at the same academic level,” explained Sarah. “That's really hard to do and it's not the teacher's fault, there's so many things at play. Each student in our class will have their own tracking system, their own goals each day and so they know where they are in their learning.”

Both teachers want to teach self-awareness, others-awareness, social skills and empathy to the children in ‘emotional intelligence.’

“We have a whole curriculum we're following, exercises and a chunk of time every morning designated for emotional learning for students,” said Sarah. That's also unique to our school and our program and outdoor education.”

"It won't just be outdoor play, we will be teaching our subjects outside and integrating outdoors throughout,” said Kayley.

The idea of the school stemmed from both women spending time together since both their husbands are brothers. Two duo had their children and maternity leave around the same time and collaborated on the idea. It was inspired from the COVID-19 pandemic as several children had alternate learning conditions and restrictions placed for a few years that could not give students the full school experience.

“We also saw a lot of gaps in the learning as we went back from the pandemic, seeing so many kids grade levels behind or above because home life was different for everyone,” explained Kayley. “We looked at the system right now and how everything's being taught and were, 'we could close those gaps so easily with a different model of teaching.’”

Sarah and Kayley wanted to deliver quality education at Evergreen to Peterborough in the same respect as they would want their own children to receive.

“I wanted to give my kids a quality education and felt like Sarah and I could give them that,” explained Kayley. “We felt like we could actually do a wonderful job at providing a quality education to everyone.”

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American Zoologists The Kratt Brothers Come to Peterborough to Film ‘Wild Kratts’ Episode Featuring Riverview Park and Zoo Camels

Martin and Chris Kratt stopped by the Riverview Park and Zoo on Tuesday to film for their PBS Kids show ‘Wild Kratts,’ which aims to educate young viewers on zoology and ecology.

photo courtesy of riverview park and zoo, facebook.

Martin and Chris Kratt are zoologists and actors who host the educational series. They have produced five TV series including ‘Kratts’ Creatures’ and ‘Zoboomafoo’ which educate children on different species through live-action and cartoon segments.

The brother’s filmed with Riverview’s Bactrian Camels for the upcoming episode.

Wild Kratts is in its seventh season on PBS, which can be streamed in Canada on TVOKids.

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Stephen O’Sullivan Becomes New PVNC Director of Education

The Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board has appointed Stephen O’Sullivan as the new Director of Education and Secretary/Treasurer to the Board announced on Tuesday.

Photo courtesy of PVNC.

O’Sullivan assumes the role in August. He has been a Catholic educator for 23 years and held the role of Superintendent of Human Resources since 2021. He also served as the Superintendent of Faith and Equity and Clarington Family of Schools.

He started his teaching career with Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board and joined PVNC Catholic as a vice-principal in 2010. O’Sullivan has served as a vice-principal at St. Mother Teresa CES, St. Elizabeth CES and St. Thomas Aquinas CSS and as principal at St. Luke CES and St. Anthony CES.

“I feel very privileged and blessed to be chosen to lead Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board,” said O’Sullivan. “I want to build on the vision and strategic priorities that are already in place and continue to move the Board forward with a focus on student and staff well-being and achievement. We will continue to accompany our students as we fulfill the promise of Catholic education together.”

O’Sullivan holds a Masters of Religious Education from the University of St. Michael’s College. He has earned an Osgoode Certificate in Education Law and in 2021 he completed the Learning Partnership Leadership Program from the Ivey Business School.

He is a chair of the Ontario Catholic Supervisory Officers’ Association Region One, a member of the Ontario Catholic School Business Officials Association and he sits on the Board of Directors for the Eastern Ontario Staff Development Network. Previously, O’Sullivan was on the executive council of the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario.

“We are excited to work with Steve as our new director. Steve spoke from the heart to the Board of Trustees about his vision, and the sharing of our Catholic faith,” said Kevin MacKenzie, board chairperson. “Through the many leadership roles he has taken on, he understands our system deeply and that was what truly stood out in the selection process.”

O’Sullivan and his wife Jennifer live in Peterborough with their two children, Jack and Taylor. He is a member of the Immaculate Conception parish and is a member of the Knights of Columbus.

“In this leadership role I look forward to working collaboratively with our talented superintendents and all leaders at the Board office, our dedicated and passionate school administrators, educators and support staff, students, families, parish communities and the Diocese of Peterborough as we grow our capacity to nurture the faith of students and staff together,” said O’Sullivan.

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